Exploring the soulful, creative frontiers of being an educator

Fund For Teachers

Someday I will add some context to this poem, but for now, after a three day Expeditionary Learning Institute and 11 hours of travel from Indianapolis to Phoenix to ABQ to Taos, I think I will leave it here. Only two more poems to go!

Worth Talking About?

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To be fair, the art of penmanship (not penpersonship?) is dying because of the digital age. But with tighter national education standards, elementary teachers are finding less and less time to teach things like cursive. Tennessee State Representative Sheila Butt (she could never become a teacher with that name) is fighting to reestablish handwriting as a cornerstone of early education. One of her arguments is that students who do not know how to write script may not be able to read fundamental American texts in their original form. Not a bad idea. But that’s not going to help a lot boys learn how to write that way. Try this:

Worth Talking About?

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Walked up the Shankill Road yesterday with economist Michael Leiden, Jr. (high school buddy visiting from London) I really wanted to see what happens in West Belfast when a parade, in this case a rather small one consisting of a dozen drum and flute bands, executes the itinerary and marches across the Peace Wall/Interfaces/Sectarian Divides. Really once we walked roughly a mile into the parade route, we decided to stop and catch up a bit. There was a police helicopter taking stock of the rainy afternoon from above. There was an amped up police presence on the street as well.

The summer season, either Marching Season or Riot Season depending on the source of information, is gearing up. The carnival atmosphere is not unique to yesterday. Public drinking. Street vendors. Children decked out in blue and red knick-knacks. As Neil Jarman explained to me Friday, there are about 2,800 marches across Northern Ireland in the summer time. The sky above the streets in any proper Protestant Unionist neighborhood across the six counties is crisscrossed with Union Jack bunting. This is true for the City of Derry’s Waterside neighborhood, the tiny town of Magherfelt and Belfast.

Stopping to get out of the rain with Leiden was a good thing in the sense that I am here to document the positive changes in the community, the bridge building. I don’t need to head home with sensational footage of angry Catholics and proud Protestants sowing the seeds of nightly skirmishes during each summer.

Most of these marches across the North are peaceful and not antagonistic. But in Belfast, with so many sutures still healing, I find it hard to imagine the need to march across the Peace Walls into Catholic neighborhoods. There are many arguments. Politically linked to the crown, all roads are the Queen’s Highways and they have every right to march where ever they want. To lose the marching tradition or concede the routes should be amended would be an admittance of defeat really, culturally and politically, in the eyes of Protestant neighborhoods. With the tenuous peace established in 98 and the call to be less sectarian, some Protestants believe their cultural identity is at stake.

This is the United Kingdom and these neighborhoods celebrate that fact in the face of, in spite of, or to communicate indifference towards the Irish nationalist agenda, a united Ireland across the island. Residents of the UK, as I have heard and can attest to with Mike accompanying me, are usually surprised at the use of flags and patriotism displayed. Residents of areas like Shankill are not Irish, and would like you to know that. And they’d like you to know where you and where they stand at all times.

Many Republicans I have talked to roll their eyes when I bring up these arguments I’ve heard. Fernando Murphey of the Interface Diaries and an Ardoyne resident says the bigger marches shut down neighborhoods for hours at a time. No way out, as he explained. He has participated in riotous protest of police collusion with the parade route coming through the neighborhood. There’s no way around it. And without the grating along these community borders, where would the young people have their craic, their fun/entertainment/action? I’ve heard on numerous occasions that Belfast is boring in these years since the Good Friday agreement, especially for youth. And if the daytime drinking on a Saturday was any indication of how both sides handle these summer celebrations, residents are well lubed for clashes by nighttime.

The parade is loud. The drums heralded the approach from blocks away. The drumming is intense. There is a sense of respect and quiet among the onlookers. There wasn’t waving or hysterics as they passed. People, if they weren’t already on the street, spilled out of the bars along the road to see the show. We saw the very end of the parade as it started on the Shankill, headed toward an Interface at the Peace Wall, and returned to the Shankill. Each drum group finished in a different area of the neighborhood. At a Church. At a hall. At a bar. Outside someone’s house.

Once again, shout out to Billy Moore, the Apprentice Boys’ General Secretary out of the City of Derry, as he goes out of his way throughout the year to communicate with Catholic Republican neighborhood associations to discuss routes, timing and necessity. He believes that is only fair.

There is a universal point to understand perhaps about marching and parades in general. The drums. Loud. I felt it carried an emotional weight to it. I think it would be intimidating if they were marching on my street and I was not celebrating. Simply due to the nature of what they are commemorating and the heartbeat of the music. And they knew I was not celebrating. And I knew they knew I knew. The wounds and scarring/healing process is fresh. But this could be said in the same light for people who don’t celebrate Gay Pride parades or marches for migrant rights or pro SB 1070 legislation in Arizona. I wonder if these aren’t the same type of celebration/commemoration-in-your-face-whether-you-like-it-or-not.

By the time it was all over, we were ready to head back to the city centre. The party was just starting. The sidewalks were standing room only outdoor watering holes. People were having great craic. I wanted to show him the big Peace Wall. We took our time checking it out. By the time we were done looking and wandering, the Interface where we entered the Shankill was closed. The two nearest exit points with the most direct route to downtown were sealed. It was 4:30 in the afternoon.

Worth Talking About?

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I have finally been able to sit down with Mr. Jarman after emailing each other over the course of the last few months. He generously offered time and space for a meandering line of questioning. I really wanted to know more about issues with the youth, how communities deal with overlap at Interfaces and general political/economic trends in Northern Ireland. Neil was the man to see for sure.

Violence is trending down in Northern Ireland and Belfast specifically. This is due in a large part to the nature of violence itself. It is seen as more of a nuisance than it is a threat to community stability. Adults are not supporting the youth, or inflaming the excitable nature of young troublemakers into something that would catch on. The struggle remains though. The use of force has been legitimized by society over the course of the last generation or two. Think of it as riot as socializing. That’s why, I suppose, some people have told me that Belfast is boring now, and at least there was something to do during the Troubles.

Thankfully, cross community, and increasingly intra-community violence, is widely condemned and contained. Tomorrow I’ll be going to the Whiterock parade in the Shankill. There I’ll see how the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has managed contentious events like marches. Reaction to community events such as these is proactive, not reactive, as Neil says. And the focus is on relationship building prior to the event, much like Billy Moore expressed in Derry.

I asked about youth counter culture. I am wondering if more and more communities are seeing young people avoid politics and religion altogether, thus avoiding sectarian associations and reminders. This question stems from my conversation with Chris Gaskins, the gentleman who helped me travel from Belfast to Derry. Neil used music as an example. Many young people are musicians in their traditional cultural way. But it is not an avenue to strike it rich or earn a record deal. Many Protestant youths are forming their own flute and drum bands and parading, while not necessarily affiliating with the Orange Halls or their parents and grandparents means of playing music. These bands are doing more touring than staying within their community. On the other hand, Irish traditional music is a session sport, and young musicians are finding this type of community to connect into. Once again the focus is not to make it rich.

These examples serve as a reminder of how young people are using the culture around them to create their own identity. And these examples of the music are unique to Northern Ireland.But I see connections with my students. It would be much like the youth from Taos forming drum groups on the Pueblo, or mariachi bands on their own. This happens regularly, of course with their own sense of flare and voice. Iwish I had more links for youth from the Pueblo and mariachi sounds. Lot of hip hop and drumming coming down the mountain.

Economically, Belfast is riding a wave of financial support from international sources to fund the peace process. This money is not going to last forever. Community posts like Sean Montgomery’s in Skegoneill are examples of this. Some people think the money trail will derail by the end of 2013, but no one really knows. Long term unemployment is high for the UK. But the City Centre is booming. Tourism is most definitely up. As my tour guide, Michael Rock, explained about the use of glass for store fronts. No one would have used glass during the Troubles. Bombs, right? Makes sense. The Riverfront district is no longer a smelly bog. The Cathedral Quarter is a shared space for commerce and foodies.

But Belfast is a ‘two-speed’ city. The service industry and related jobs are up and strong. The class divide is widening though. And the community residential divides are still alive and strong as evidenced by pictures from this week.

Politically speaking, with sweeping generalizations as Neil and I assured one another, I have noticed the Protestants feel a bit threatened by the peace process and fall out from 1998. In the sense that their political majority and hands on the steering wheel of the country are shaky. Catholics outnumber Protestants in the North, I think. But leading up to the Troubles Protestants held office and political power. That is changing very quickly.

Protestants, on a number of occasions with me, have expressed the concern that their culture is compromised. Neil thinks that is related to the call for communities to rein in the use of symbols and flags to combat paramilitary culture. Do you really need a masked gunman on a mural to celebrate your Protestant culture? Or is that a way to glorify violence and community terrorism? This seems like it would be akin to the Spanish community in Taos demanding their cultural images should be of the conquistadores, or the Anglos celebrating Kit Carson in public places.

Also the communities have been encouraged to gear their events, such as the bonfires, towards the family and not destructive, volatile, sectarian events. Address the use of alcohol at such events, as well. And as a shopkeeper told me in regards to the parade culture being under attack, Neil estimates of the 2,800 parades across the North, only about 100 are highly contested, meaning their route, timing, communication has to change. Once again, cheers to Billy Moore in Derry for addressing these issues through dialogue.

I am thankful for the time with Neil. He helped me form a picture of my own community as I think about the connections with Northern Ireland. But as he said, or something like it, if you try to understand Northern Ireland, you won’t understand Northern Ireland.

I wonder how our tiny town of 10,000 people reflects that sentiment. I wonder how yours copes. Is your community a collision of contradictions, divides and gulfs? Has your community used sport, or music, or public art to address shared identity? What are the next steps to grow together? This city is made of a fabric with deep neighborhood divides. I think everyone is just getting used to the peace, and quiet, and change. That’s more than enough, light years of progress, before they start looking at commonality. They may never.

Worth Talking About?

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Finally I had the great honor to meet Colin Dardis at the John Hewitt Society’s reading last night. Hosted by the Ulster Museum, the reading commemorated the 25th anniversary of John Hewitt’s passing. He was a writer of Ulster planter’s stock. Lived rurally most his life, but also worked at the very museum hosting the event. I heard six poets read last night. A brief reading. Not to make my friends in New Mexico and Colorado jealous, but it rained so hard the welcoming speaker had to stop in the middle of his opening poem. That’s rain hitting the roof four stories up. Granted it’s modern architecture, so the hull of the building is open and vast. Nevertheless, it was nice to be sipping red wine and reveling in poetry with a new friend.

It was great to see Sinead Morrissey and Frank Ormsby read among others as I have prior knowledge of their work. Very cool.

Colin introduced me to his poetic mate Chris McLaughlin (from Strabane, but no relation to the Aidan McLaughlins), and we awayed into the rain to a local pub near Queen’s University waiting out the storm. We also enjoyed the first half of Spaiin and Portugal.

We talked about slam poetry and page poetry. They have a burgeoning performance group, Voce Versa, and I had just missed a performance two weeks ago. It was interesting to hear their views of the competition of poetry. The formula of writing for the performance. The scoring of words. Our experiences with the Spoken Work were not too far off. I tried to connect them with poets on the web who are not only bringing the heat to the performance but their work stands up on the page as well. Patricia Smith and Roger Bonair-Agard come to mind. Thanks, Verse-Converse!

As the night progress, Chris and I found ourselves out under the wet lamp light, munching sandwiches from the mini store because we had missed dinner speaking of football and poetics. I really wanted to know how poets interpret the Troubles into their work. I know so many poets in the Southwest recall the loss of their culture over the centuries and how it resurfaces in their family, identity and community. Chris essentially said that the Troubles in not in play as of yet. It would be too emotionally trite for poets to go there. Keep in mind we are talking about performance poetry here. An audience would cringe at any attempt to contextualize someone’s experience with hate and violence.

This was the first time I had heard that the Troubles did not touch everyone, whether by familial loss or community identity. I had always heard and assumed that the Troubles’ tentacles had reach around everyone’s leg and kept people wriggling to get away.

Chris did mention a poet, by the name of Colin Hassard. He has done a whopping piece called Norn Iron, or how the locals say Northern Ireland. He has some great lines. He doesn’t glorify, nor chastise. He captures the essence of what it means to be from here. It is well done. Hassard’s youth was “stopping football on the streets to let army cars pass.” This is what I was hoping to find from the poetry community. At least a conversation happening about how to communicate identity, sectarian or not.

Worth Talking About?

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Fernando Murphey and Alan Waite have organized cross community effort to reconcile an area of North Belfast that has an infamous black eye. Many community organizations are using dialogue and circles to bring youth together from opposites sides of Belfast’s impressive divides. Murphey had had enough of trying to do this conventionally.

Much like Sean Montgomery in the Skegoneill, Fernando explained how these circles and dialogues take 4-8 weeks to get beyond the posturing and silence youth bring to the table. He wanted to innovate the process of bringing youth from each side. The Interface Diaries was born.

Fernando is from Ardoyne, a Catholic community of 7,000 people in North Belfast. Close by is the Shankill area. Wall are present. Some Interfaces are not. Notice the Eye in the Sky, as Fernando puts it, to recognize when you are crossing into another neighborhood.

This area is Interface is also notorious for a calamity of community overlap in 2001. After the Good Friday Agreement, communities boundaries, in some parts of Belfast, were redrawn and remade. Nowhere did this have such gross impacts. The Holy Cross Girls School, a Catholic primary school, is now located about 300 yards from where the above picture was taken. Before the communities recognized the right and necessity of busing the girls these few football fields, the young girls were exposed to a gauntlet of hate and violence from the local Protestant Unionist residents. Balloons of urine were thrown at the girls. A bomb exploded on the third day and killed a police dog. The following video shows the ugliness and reality of communities growing up together in times of peace. If not for the 9/11 Attack in New York, people have speculated this dispute would have been global news.

But now the Interface Diaries is using the format of video diaries to connect youth in each community. Instead of wasting precious time, Fernando and Alan decided to record young boys asking questions of boys the same age across the divide. The recipients would record their answers and send the video back to the other side. By the end of four weeks, when youth workers would just be scratching the surface of progress, the young people on both sides were chomping at the bit to meet the people they saw on the television screens. They wanted to be friends. The questions were hardest hitting at the beginning of the process. Culture, politics, history, stereotypes. These questions turned into questions about relationships, music sports.

This process was first used with young men, but the second installment of the Interface Diaries deals with young women. A couple of the girls were involved in the Holy Cross dispute eleven years ago. After building the bridges between the communities, Fernando and Alan bring the group together with a traveling experience. This year the girls visited Manchester and met members from that city’s minority community.

The Interface Diaries is a unique and compelling project model for Belfast. The project is not at a loss for potential grant money. I will be in touch with Fernando and Alan to see if we can get them or students to visit Taos. We can build bridges together.